Finch - 6.9.08

On June 9th, I went into the studio with three members of Finch (Randy, Alex and Daniel). I had previously done an interview with Randy but that one was scrapped after we listened to it again, so we decided to do another one, except with other members involved too.

What is the progress on the new songs?

Randy: Well, we have been writing a few songs to put out and we decided to make an EP so we chose four of the songs out of the ones we've written to focus on and record. Right now we're in the studio doing the EP.

Is this your last day in the studio?

Randy: No, we're going to be here for a little bit longer, we have some mixing to do.

Before, you guys had said you were going to be recording an album. Why has it been shortened to an EP?

Randy: we still have plans to record an album but we wanted to, well, we haven't had a release out since 2005 so we kind of wanted to put something out and do it ourselves without ruining our chances of promoting an album. We figured we could put some stuff out as an EP and get it out there for the kids that like Finch and want to hear what we're doing right now and what direction we're in at this point. We're also doing this ourselves, so it would be kind of a lot more expensive to record an album. A lot more time in the studio and stuff, so this is a lot more budgeted for right now, where we stand.

This is going to be coming out on iTunes only?

Randy: No, we're going to press it and try to make it a full thing. You can come and get it on our tour coming up in July with Scary Kids Scaring Kids and Foxy Shazam and Tickle Me Pink. It'll be available when that tour starts, which is July 18th.

Are all of these songs ones that will be on the album too?

Randy: We don't know yet, we kind of think…we'll just see when we get there, just right now we're thinking that these are for the EP and our album will be something different. You never know though, so I don't want to say yes or no to that.

The big question that everyone wants to know is how is this stuff different from the older stuff?

Alex: It sounds more like What It Is To Burn, you know, with screaming and all.

Randy: You should hear Nate scream. He sounds like Corey from Slipknot now…I'm kidding.

Alex: Wait, what was the question?

Randy: I think it was "Does Nate still scream?" [laughter]

Alex: I think it's still Finch but I don't think we're repeating ourselves or anything. Not like the first record, or the second…

Randy: It's a pretty frequent question so I've asked a lot of my friends the question to see what they think of this, because they're heard the new stuff and they all said that it just sounds like…a more mature sounding batch of songs, but not in the "it's boring" sense. I don't know.

Alex: I would say it's, really like on a songwriting level, because we didn't have any specific ideas of what we wanted it to sound like or anything like that or what we wanted it to do. On Sunshine, we spent a lot of time trying to make our songs musically more clever and not just like chorus verse chorus. Or, if we did something like that, we'd try and do something tricky in between it. I think that this time, we just didn't worry about that.

Daniel: I think to us it feels like a genuine collaboration and not something that was just forced with a product in mind. I don't know how to describe it as far as genres go, but to us it feels like an exciting collaboration.

Randy: I mean, also now having Daniel and Drew in the band now, our dynamic is completely different so of course it doesn't sound like anything else because we write our stuff together as a band. I'm really excited about it and I can't wait to show these songs to people.

Are there any collaborations or guests on this or is this all you guys?

Alex: All us

Let's get to the actual reunion. Randy, do you want to tell the story again? How it happened?

Alex: Well, we didn't really talk, I didn't speak to Nate for two years. Me and Randy had very frequent chats or whatever, we hung out three or four times in two years. We were both just too busy with our daily life crap, but I got a call one day where he asked me, like, "Finch reunion tour '07, let's do this!" [laughter] And I was like, I wasn't really into it, because when I left Finch, I didn't want to do music anymore and I wanted to go to school and do that sort of thing. He said something really very important at that point which definitely changed my opinion of it. I was like, "OK let's do this, call Nate."

Can I ask what that important thing was?

Alex: Well…

Randy: He said that he only asked me to call Nate…

[laughter]

Haha. We'll leave it at that.

Alex: I knew Randy was really nervous about talking to Nate because he hadn't talked to him in two years either and when we all left Finch, we didn't necessarily leave it on the best of terms. There was such a gap in communication that we didn't know how we would go about it, if Nate would be like "Are you kidding me?" or if he would be really stoked. He put off calling him for a long time and then I think you sent him a text [speaking to Randy].

Randy: Yeah I was texting him because I was too nervous to actually talk to him

Alex: Nate also said some very important things, or thing rather…

Randy: I think we're all on the same page as far as that's concerned. It's like, getting back up on the right foot. We wanted to do it right and not encounter any of the same problems we had in the past and I think that we made the right choice because with Daniel and Drew with us now, it's smooth and there's no conflict.

Alex: We actually really like each other now. So that's how it happened, Randy called me and was like "I just talked to Nate! He's so into it!" So I think the next day I pretty much quit my life, quit my job, quit school, broke up with my girlfriend [laughter]

Daniel: They didn't want to promise Drew and I that it was anything more than one gig at first.

Alex: It became pretty obvious after a couple of rehearsals that we were all having a really good time together, so we said "Yeah, we gotta do more than just one show." Randy: Yeah, I think the focus was on, less than our ability to write these fucking awesome songs, and more about getting in a room together and having fun. That's what it started as and that's where we still are at, but we're writing fucking awesome songs too.

[to Daniel] How did you and Drew get involved in this?

Daniel: Well, I've known Randy and Alex for forever, we went to high school together, I grew up with Nate. Drew and I met through Nate and I's band Cosmonaut, during the hiatus, so we'd been playing together for a good year, over a year almost. When these guys got in the picture and started bringing up a reunion, Nate asked Drew and I if we wanted to do the Finch thing, and we tried it out. It worked out okay.

Randy: Like, personally, they're the perfect fit. They contribute like, their personalities are more personally pleasing to us. They give us some handjobs too. [laughter] Musically, we like pretty much the same kind of music. Daniel, we all share...

Daniel: I feel like we all had the same kind of vision for what a great song is and what a good collaboration is.

Randy: What I'm trying to say is that those things that inspire us have carried on into the songs that we're writing. Not in an obvious way, because obviously we're not like a techno band or a grunge band, you know. These things really mesh well, the personal taste and what we're creating now, it's seemless.

I'm assuming that you guys don't really keep in touch with the other guys.

Randy: Actually, we still talk to Marc Allen.

Alex: Yeah, we talk to Marc occasionally. We originally invited him back when we first started talking about it but he just started a new band with his brother called "Hell On Earth."

They're not involved in these new recordings at all, are they?

Alex: No

What do you think of the reaction so far? Overwhelmed, underwhelmed?

Randy: Well, it's kind of awesome. At first we didn't know what to expect really, do people still care about us, how is it going to go over, you know. We just went out there without really any expectations and a lot of the shows sold out and it came as a huge surprise. Kids were super into it and it's real exciting. Pretty pleased about it.

Alex: We all were expecting at least that we'd have to work hard to get back into their [fans'] favor again, some of us felt a little guilty about how we behaved towards the end of last time. We cancelled a lot of shows and we felt bad about it.

I've seen you guys play a couple of times since the reunion and I've noticed that you guys are playing some of the older material now that had been sworn off before.

Alex: Well, we did a couple of those in practice, almost as a joke. Randy would start playing it and we'd laugh but then we'd go along with it. I mean, it's fun to play those songs, it's been six years or so since we'd play stuff like "Letters To You."

Randy: It's gone full circle. Like The Mask with Jim Carrey. At first it's so hilarious, then it's like, I hate the mask, I hate it! And then I love the mask at the end, he's so funny! Jim Carrey is so funny!

Are you guys still doing the side projects then?

Randy: All of my attention goes to Finch now definitely. I want the raddest shit possible, I don't want to do solo stuff right now. If I have a good idea, it goes to Finch.

Daniel: Yeah the focus is definitely on Finch, as far as Cosmonaut goes. Nate, Drew and I all have a soft spot for Cosmonaut in our heart, we put a lot of time and energy into it personally. At some point I'd like to eventually put out what we did or even put out some new stuff, but the priority is definitely Finch right now. It definitely clicks really well and there's no reason to put anything in the way of that.

For this EP, this is something you are totally doing yourself without any label, but for the upcoming album, are you guys open to getting a label involved?

Randy: We definitely aren't closing the door on anything, you know, it all depends on what's best for us so we'll see.

Alex: Depends on which major label is knocking down our doors to get to us.

cool. i love wiitb and all (/username) but regression is never good in my opinion. and it just sounds like they are reverting to the old sound to get back those fairweathers who ditched them after SHTS (which was subpar, but had a lot of great songs). we'll see what this EP is about come tuesday though.

Randy: It's gone full circle. Like The Mask with Jim Carrey. At first it's so hilarious, then it's like, I hate the mask, I hate it! And then I love the mask at the end, he's so funny! Jim Carrey is so funny!

the new songs sound pretty good, i excited to pick up a copy of the new ep. not that say hello to sunshine was bad, but i hoped for a different kind of progression, and i think that's why i couldn't get into it as much. i just might have to listen to that album again.